36 replies to this topic

[Champion of Khorne Lord of Blood]

I gotta say that as long as your enemy doesn't have AMS then chainfire if they are attacking an ally or yourself, if they are not shooting at someone then group fire.

You'll reduce their chances of accurate return fire greatly, but if you are chain firing at some random guy he might be more likely to run out of a lock before all missiles hit and it won't be as strong of a burst in the given time, that and it reveals your position more than firing a single large volley would. I know when I pilot anything looking to flank I look to the sky.

EDIT: thats for LRMs I mean.

For UACs or massed ACs it really depends. You either pick between spreading damage more but reducing enemy accuracy and keeping damage pinpoint and trying to kill them faster. Preference I guess, but know that if your enemy has the temperment to keep their fire going then you would be better off with them dead.

I remember just a day or two ago I was running a quad UAC5 mauler and had walked into an enemy group of 3 or 4 mechs, the screen shake was great as one of them was a king crab with UACs and there was a dragon with what seemed to be dual AC5s, but I kept my fire going even if it wasn't fully accurate and was able to put enough shots on them for some to back up and I was able to back out before I died. I survived that whole match with one medium laser left.

Edited by Dakota1000, 05 October 2015 - 03:57 PM.

[Troutmonkey]

Jman5, on 05 October 2015 - 12:32 PM, said:

BTW, a tip for chainfire. You don't have to just hold it down and wait for .5 second delay between shots. You can manually press the button for a more rapid chainfire.

Which only works for lasers. ACs, LRMs and SRMs cannot be rapid chain fired.
Also, lasers cannot be rapid fire if another group is being held.

Stupid bugs that have been around since forever.

[Ultimax]

Never.

If I'm playing an energy/laser boat, I always have 2-3 weapon groups to break down my damage into smaller heat spikes if I need to.

If I'm not playing an energy/laser boat, I'll usually have something else I can fire when/if I'm running hot.

[Coolant]

never

[LordNothing]

chain is great for multiple uacs. uacs require you spam buttons anyway, so you might as well stagger them. it also spreads out jams a bit more so you have less overall down time (as opposed to everything jamming all at once). also do this on the dire when i run a trio of uac20s or four uac10s, more to keep the temp down.

also use chain on cold fire groups, where i have another group with the same config with cf off. when the mech starts redline i go for the chained group instead.

lrms are another thing, but more to save ammo. eventually the enemy will find cover, and its better to find that out while fewer missiles are in the air at the time.

Edited by LordNothing, 05 October 2015 - 06:11 PM.

[Karl Marlow]

I have a couple waehawks with 4 erlls 2 on each arm. I chain fire those I. Separate triggers to help avoid heat and control which arm fire comes from. Its not that hard to double tap if I want them both to fire. One of the warhawks also has an lrm45 I have an extra trigger to chain and group fire. With the lls and lrms it's probably one of the more precision and positional Mechs I run. Its also one of my favorites.

For this curious the other 4 erll warhawk runs the biggest targeting computer I could find and additional heat sinks. Not as fun but on maps like alpine it shines.

Edited by ThomasMarik, 05 October 2015 - 06:53 PM.

[Druarc]

I chainfire my streak crow for fun, lots of lights turn and run when they see a streak crow and nailing them in the back with a constant stream of SRMs is funny, yup I a sick puppy.

[GrimRiver]

I chain fire my BNC-3E's 3x ac5's into the faces of my enemy to make them panic and when they turn away I tri fire the 3x ac5's with 2x LL's for max dmg, it makes very quick work of anything.

[Random Carnage]

Another option is to get a happy compromise, if such a thing exists.

Running 6 CUAC5's on a Dire, put the left 3 into weapon group 1, and the right 3 into weapon group 2, with both groups on chain fire. This allows you to fire 2 UAC5's at the same time and cycle through 3 rotations minimising heat build-up while retaining good punch and screen shake. Bonus is you can peek and fire 3 guns from one side or the other as terrain dictates without having to fully break cover.

You can still double tap and alpha if you want to drop max damage in a hurry.

Edited by Random Carnage, 05 October 2015 - 10:48 PM.

[James Warren]

My long time favourite Mad Dog loadout has a bunch of LRM 5s. Chain fire is really useful for saving ammunition (and therefore tonnage for other weapons) and makes it much more versatile.

If there's a target that's caught away from cover, I'll chain fire for the constant barrage of missiles. It saves me from overheating and makes most players panic a little. If I'm not sure if a target is in cover or not, I just fire a couple to check my firing arc, rather than wasting ammo on something behind a rock.

If I feel like my target won't stay locked for much longer, I fire them all at once.

[Kmieciu]

Chainfire is useful during a matchscore - type event when you want to farm damage instead of killing your opponents.

[AssaultPig]

chain firing LRMs has always been silly; you're just extending the amount of time you need the lock held, which is particularly difficult in the current game environment. If they're out in the open enough that you can 'stunlock' them, they'll be dead before long anyway.

chain firing anythign else is almost as silly; in 99% of situations you'd have been better off just alpha-ing, then using the cooldown time to twist or seek cover.

[El Bandito]

See that enemy Dire Whale, or King Crab? Chain fire your LRMs, or ACs to keep them suppressed, so they wont be able to butt-**** your team.

Edited by El Bandito, 05 October 2015 - 11:45 PM.

[Thorqemada]

Never - usually i have 2 or 3 or 4 different Weapontypes on my Mechs and use the Weapongroups as needed.

[Bilbo]

When I hit the button by mistake. Otherwise, I just cycle through my weapon groups.

[deadmedo]

Catapult A1 -> 6xLRM5+A

Especially when you catch a mech on open field and you watch him try to get to cover while constantly under LRM5 fire. One of the best moments in MWO

Edited by deadmedo, 06 October 2015 - 06:35 AM.

[Speedy Plysitkos]

i chainfire in 2 situations

1) when chasing light in heavy/assault to save ballistic ammo
2) when i wanna go full rambo and scare enemy mech with constant fire on him.